Double Entry Notes & Responses

Author: NYCWP

LEHMAN COLLEGE

INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY STUDIES

Tel: (718) 960-8758

THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

250 Bedford Park Blvd. West

Fax: (718) 960-8054

Bronx, NY 10468-1589

NEW YORK CITY WRITING PROJECT

Double-Entry Notes

Purpose

Double-entry notes provide a framework for engaging with text. They have wide-spread applications. They require students to return to the text and to make a close, critical reading. They allow students to bring their own thinking in response to the text to the fore, and to engage in written conversation with other students. These notes can serve as a prelude for classroom discussion and for writing.

Procedure

In choosing a text, consider how difficult it may be for the class to read, especially if students will be reading silently to themselves.

Students use a sheet of loose leaf paper, folded in half vertically. At the top of the left column, they write “Quotes” as the heading. At the top of the right column, they write “Responses/Comments.”

Distribute the text and instruct students to monitor their own thoughts as they read the text to themselves. Whenever they find the text has triggered a train of thought, they copy the piece of text that began their thinking in the left hand column, taking care for correctness and using quotation marks. Parallel with the quotation, they note down their thoughts in the right hand column. When they begin a new quote, they should skip lines so that both the quote and the response begin on the same line. This way, connections between the two will be easy to follow later on when students refer back to their notes.

In pairs, small groups, or a whole class discussion, have student s share what parts of the text were thought provoking, and what their reactions to the text were, based upon what they have noted down.

When students are using double-entry notes to write, point out to them that words taken from the “Quotes” column must be in quotation marks. Their own words in the “Reponses/Comments” column provide the raw material for composing.

Summary

There are many variations of this format that have been used. Students working with photocopies of text may select quotes by highlighting, and then record their thinking on sticky papers placed directly on top of the highlighted text.

In place of a text, the first column can refer to an activity or a visual. In this case, “Observation,” is substituted for “Quotes.” The second column remains “Reponses/Comments.”

Triple-entry notes include a third column for comments and responses written after a period of time, or written by another student. This conversation in writing is also known s dialogue notes or dialectical notes.

Source

Bean, J. (2001). Engaging Ideas: The professor’s guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Prepared by Patsy Wooters

LEHMAN COLLEGE

INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY STUDIES

Tel: (718) 960-8758

THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

250 Bedford Park Blvd. West

Fax: (718) 960-8054

Bronx, NY 10468-1589

NEW YORK CITY WRITING PROJECT

Double Entry Response

As you read, mark off/underline those ideas/incidents parts of the article that stand out for you – that strike you, puzzle you, touch you, annoy you, surprise you, delight you, and or that remind your or something else you’ve read or of a particular student in your class or whatever…

Once you mark off a sentence or passage, stop reading and…

a) Copy the passage that stands out for you onto the left hand column of your notebook page.

b) Then use the right hand column to express your thoughts about the passage.

c) After you’ve finished writing about this bit or text, read on until the next time you come to a passage that resonates for you.

d) Once again jot the passage down in the left hand column. Again, use the right hand column to respond to the passage.

Continue to do this until you’ve completed reading and responding to the article.*

*Please note that sometimes you will mark off a chunk of text to respond to but choose to keep on reading. That makes perfect sense. While it’s likely that when you return to this bit of text you will write something different from what you would originally have written a the moment the text caught your eye. Yet, what you write will have its own value. The point is to find your own way with this reading/thinking strategy – one that works for who you are as a reader.

DMU Timestamp: April 30, 2019 18:47